Not really sure of the source of this problem. Overclocked my GPU and hit the 860mhz lock at 50 degrees load. So gave bios flashing a go. Used atiflash.exe booting from a usb. First few bios flashes broke the card which were fixed by blind flashing to the factory file. On the 4th file i got another black screen. Rebooted as usual but this time there was no usb read activity, no hard drive, no vid (as expected) and even no num lock light which leads me to belive the mb isnt even posting. Any ideas anyone (bear in mind im running blind) or is it time i got a 4850
Do you have another card to test your mobo? It could've gone up the spout... Sounds a bit strange though.
Have a pair of AGP cards, fat load of use they are as backups these days. I just stripped the system back to motherboard, PSU, CPU and a speaker and still no post. Im the only pc enthusiast that I know within reasonable travel distance (what times are these?) so I doubt I could scrounge a PCI based one off someone. Do you have any idea if its possible to boot using a cheaper gpu (say a 3450) and flash the 3870 in another slot? Bypassing this lock is becoming more hastle than its worth. Its a stupid lock in the first place really.
AFAIK it wasn't exactly an intended lock, but you may find you want to leave it on anyway, im not certain whether it was because of the new BIOS or not, but I cannot OC my 3870 any more (after flashing the BIOS some while back) without getting that stupid 'atikmdag' error when I try to play games. As for your problem in hand, this may sound stupid... but... is the power supply working?
Everything spins up as usual so I assume its working. Going to get a buget card today so I can at least see whats going off. Will take it from there.
Stealth update: Problem was caused by the BIOS (mobo) forgetting the time for some reason and refusing to boot until I told it the right time, which I couldnt because there was no video. Went to pick up a backup GPU this morning before work, 3450 was about 50 quid, 4850 was 130ish. The temptation was too much, Im working bank holiday anyway . Problem solved, just need to re-flash the old card and use that as backup. My god stock coolers suck.
Really? That's odd, surely when we reset the cmos it would clear the time, and the machines still boot?
